Cosatu threat won't stop tax laws, says presidency
Threats of mass demonstrations by Cosatu over the government's tax laws will not deter their coming into effect in March. The Presidency yesterday, said the laws will be reviewed only after the second year of their official introduction.President Jacob Zuma's office dismissed claims by Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini that there was no consultation over the laws, especially the aspect requiring provident fund members to preserve two-thirds of their retirement savings by way of annuitisation."There was an informal bilateral between the federation and Treasury, where they told us that they were preparing a draft bill to only address the issue of tax harmonisation, which was going to benefit provident fund members who are currently taxed at a much higher rate as compared to pension fund members."We only discovered during those informal discussions that they had deceitfully smuggled "preservation" into this draft bill and that is when we made it clear that we were opposed to the draft bill," said Cosatu in a statement last week.The Presidency yesterday denied underhandedness by the government. ..
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